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Commonwealth v. Molina Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed convictions related to several drug offenses. At issue was whether his pretrial motion to suppress evidence and statements was improperly denied where the warrantless search of his hotel room was unlawful, which thereby invalidated statements he later made to police as well as subsequent searches made by police pursuant to warrants. The court affirmed the denial of defendant's pretrial motion to suppress and held that, because the hotel manager lawfully evicted defendant from his room, defendant did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the room at the time of the police search and the search therefore was not unlawful.
COMMONWEALTH vs. Mark MOLINA.
SJC-10759.
February 7, 2011. - June 1, 2011.
Controlled Substances. Firearms. Practice, Criminal, Motion to suppress. Search and Seizure, Hotel room, Expectation
of privacy. Constitutional Law, Search and seizure, Privacy. Privacy.

INDICTMENTS found and returned in the Superior Court Department on April 24, 2006.

A pretrial motion to suppress evidence was heard by Charles J. Hely, J., and the cases were heard by Janet L. Sanders,

J.
The Supreme Judicial Court on its own initiative transferred the case from the Appeals Court.
John J. McGlone, III (Jacqueline M. Burchill with him) for the defendant.
Zachary Hillman, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth.
Present: Ireland, C.J., Spina, Cowin, Cordy, Botsford, Gants, & Duffly, JJ. [FN1]
IRELAND, C.J.
After a jury-waived trial, the defendant, Mark Molina, was found guilty of trafficking in a class B controlled substance (cocaine), G.L. c. 94C,

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Massachusetts Law